St Helens 27 Salford City Reds 26

JOHN Wilshere scored two tries in vain for Salford as mighty St Helens pulled off a smash and grab win. Pic by Bill McLaughlin

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

THE Reds were the width of a post away from avoiding defeat at the home of mighty St Helens for the first time in 27 years.

Rock-bottom Salford may have started the game 13 points adrift of the table-topping Saints in the Super League table.

But the injury-ravaged Reds produced their second successive heroic performance and all that separated the two sides was the fact that Matty Smith's late drop goal attempt for St Helens sailed over while Luke Robinson's for Salford crashed against an upright.

True, Salford could not have wished for a better time to face the world champions. St Helens had only three full days to prepare for the game compared to Salford's six. And with a crunch Challenge Cup clash with Warrington looming, the Saints opted to rest several key players in Paul Wellens, Matt Gidley, Sean Long, Jon Wilkin, James Roby and Maurie Fa'asavalu.

However, Salford's fans are certainly justified in looking upon the relegation fight with renewed hope this week.

St Helens still fielded a side that most coaches would sacrifice a couple of limbs for but Salford had the beating of them for much of the game.

They reproduced the impressive work rate and new-found belief in both attack and defence that disposed of Huddersfield the previous week.

The Reds, who welcomed back Paul Highton from a calf injury, also took their chances exceptionally well when they came, three times touching down on the back of St Helens' mistakes.

And the decision to switch John Wilshere to full back and David Hodgson to the wing worked a treat with both players bagging tries in top class individual displays.

But, in the end, that all proved to be in vain as St Helens recovered from a 26-14 deficit to snatch a smash and grab success and leave Salford cut three points adrift at the foot of the table.

It was a cruel finale for Salford and their caretaker coach Steve Simms, who has somehow rejuvenated the Reds since the ruthless sacking of Karl Harrison.

But the reality is that Salford were found wanting when attempting to see the game out.

Calm heads and no mistakes were needed as St Helens came on strong at the death. But Salford coughed up early possession in five sets on the bounce, their defence was all over the place when Keiron Cunningham touched down on 61 minutes and the stage was set for a one-pointer to settle the spoils after Stuart Littler's missed tackle had enabled Lee Gilmour to cross the whitewash 12 minutes later.

Luke Dorn also missed a vital one-on-one tackle for Salford. It paved the way for Willie Talau to go over in the first half.

Dorn later made amends by setting up both of Wilshere's tries.

Robinson's clever kick to the corner saw youngster Stefan Ratchford touch down on his Super League debut, Hodgson notched an 80-metre interception score and Coley hacked on a fumbled kick-off to score Salford's final try of the game. But, crucially, the Reds were off target with two of their five conversion attempts.